


Al-addou Al-algham - Enemy Mine

by Mini_Goat



Series: Fate [36]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, High School, Implied Sexual Content, Mentors, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29217705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mini_Goat/pseuds/Mini_Goat
Summary: The drug dealer is gone. Problem solved right? So why is everything but her relationship with Jon so hard again? She’s not supposed to care what a bunch of high school kids think about her but Sammy isn’t able to shake the uncomfortable sensation of not being liked.
Relationships: Clone Samantha "Sam" Carter/Clone Jack O'Neill
Series: Fate [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441348
Comments: 31
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Getting very close to a point in time where the focus swings back to Jack and Sam for a while but I thought I’d tie up a couple loose ends here first.

Sammy sat alone at lunch. Not that she’d been popular before but she hadn’t been shunned. She sighed. Oh well. It had been nice while it lasted… to have a sort of normal teen experiences not overshadowed by her mom’s death and being told things like ‘it was a year ago, get over it’. An actual statement from an actual classmate once said to her.

Lynn was in Jon’s lunch period as were most of the guys they hung out with. Lori had first period lunch and the girls from pole vaulting were just ignoring her. They had been supportive right up until they found out she’d help Jon lie to catch a drug dealer.

Snitches and stitches, she supposed as she dug unto her Jell-O. It wasn’t even blue. She missed the SGC. Jack always made sure they had blue Jell-O for her. She missed being an adult and not having to deal with this childish nonsense.

“Well, that’s a new one.” A familiar voice said over her shoulder just before a tray plopped down next to hers.

“Hi Heather.” Sammy said, with a sigh.

“Why, is little Miss Sunshine pouting today? Is it because no one likes her either now?”

“Either?”

“I am not exactly in high demand socially.” Heather said with a shrug. “No biggie. Most of them are bitches anyway. At least it’s mostly because your bestie is in another lunch period. Along with your boyfriend.” She said philosophically as she poured dressing on her salad.

“Yah.” Sammy said and poked at her lunch that wasn’t specifically recognizable.

“What was _that_ supposed to be?” Heather asked as they both stared at Sam’s lunch tray.

“I’m not sure. I was daydreaming so when the lunch lady snapped at me, I panicked.” Sammy admitted.

Heather chuckled. “Whatever it is… don’t eat it.” She told her and scraped some of her salad onto Sammy’s plate.

“Thanks.” Sammy said with a grateful smile.

“Better. You looked like Charlie the Unicorn sitting there moping. Did you get an A minus or something?”

Sammy shook her head. She mumbled to herself. “It wasn’t like I was popular anyway, but at least people didn’t avoid me.”

“Yah, well… uh… I got a hug from Amy. I told her it was Jon she should hug. Then she started crying and it got weird.”

“Sorry.”

Heather made a rude noise at her. “What are you sorry for? Keeping anyone else from being raped? You would think these morons would be grateful. Did I tell you how hot your uncle Bill is by the way? Also, if I was your aunt I’d have jumped your uncle Jack the first chance I got too. Is Jon really his ringer?”

“I’ve seen photos. He looks exactly the same at the same age.” Sammy said.

“Well, you have that to look forward to. He looks like a GQ cover.”

Sammy giggled. “He has no clue.”

“What? You’re kidding. He has no idea he looks like that. Does the man not own a mirror?”

“I know, right? I grew up with him so he was just always my aunt’s friend from work but now that I’m older… I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t know what she saw in him. He’s super nice too. Loves kids, dogs, stray archeologists…” The cover story just rolled off her tongue now after a couple years of practice at it. Even Sammy nearly believed herself now.

“That is oddly specific.” Heather said, as she shoved salad in her mouth. “Makes sense. Jon has no clue he’s hot either.”

“Don’t you dare tell him. I don’t want him getting a big ego about it.” Sammy admonished her with a little grin.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just admire him from afar. He doesn’t have a brother, does he?”

“Nope, just an older cousin who only vaguely resembles him.”

“Rats.”

Sammy chuckled. “Thanks Heather.”

“No problem. It’s weird seeing you mope.”

Sammy shrugged.

“I don’t get it. I’ve been telling people it was all my idea to get back at that jerk that drugged everyone for Amy’s mom not letting us be friends any more. I wonder…” She trailed off thoughtfully.

Sammy looked at her inquiringly.

“You’re annoyingly likeable so I’d say it’s someone who has reason to want to knock you down a peg or two.”

“That make next to no sense, Heather.” Sammy pointed out.

“It does if it’s personal. Your problem is none of your friends have ever been petty bitches.” Heather thought for a moment and then told her. “I have some friends who are seniors. I’m going to pump them for info. If I’m right though, you aren’t going to like it.’

“Who do you think the problem is?”

Heather just shook her head, thinking she would need proof if she was right. Just then, the lunch bell rang. “Gotta go. I may as well get decent grades since I’m down to a sporto and an art freak for friends.” Heather told her but it was with an amused smile as though she secretly was glad.

Sammy sighed again and dumped her lunch in the trash untouched other than the bit of salad Heather had shared.

* * *

“So, today in dumb but so obvious that even Stevie Wonder could see it coming questions,” Lynn turned to Sammy as they walked home together before asking. “Can I set up my tutoring with Jon at your house?” Lynn asked Sammy.

Sammy’s brow furrowed. “Uh… sure but…”

“Why you ask? Because my mom is convinced Jon is a sexual deviant and I’m next on his list, that’s why.”

Sammy sighed. “Great. Terrific.” She bobbed her head a couple times.

Lynn looked at her sideways. “So Heather is being nice to me. It’s sort of creepy and weird.”

Sammy shrugged. “She seems sincere. I think she liked Amy more than she’d let on to the Karens and it really hurt her when Amy’s mom banned them from even talking.”

Lynn nodded. “Makes sense. I’m kind of sorry I missed the party. I can’t believe your uncle let Jon be in the middle of that.”

Sammy gave Lynn a wry smile. “The only thing Uncle Jack reels Jon in about is me and only because Aunt Sam would kick his ass.”

“Literally.”

Sammy chuckled. “Yes.”

“Good.” Lynn said with a grin. “ So do you think she’s yanking our chains?”

“Honestly… no. I think she’s being for real on this one. She told me today her only two friends left were a sporto and an art freak. I assume she means us.” Sammy said with a small answering grin.

“Ha ha. I bet you never thought anyone popular would ever call you a sporto instead of a nerd.”

“For a long time Jon used to pretend he was dumb.” Sammy said with an amused smirk. “I found out he wasn’t though and never let him live it down.”

“Good. Tuesdays ok?”

“Yah. Tuesdays are fine. Tell your mom since she’s being weird, you’re just going to try to study with me and hope you understand a single thing I say.”

“It’s that obvious?” Lynn said of their vastly different math skills.

“Only to me.” Sammy said with an amused look.

“Right.” Lynn told her and stuck her tongue out. “Chat room tonight?”

“Yah. Aren’t you getting ready for the art fair?”

“I,” Lynn said smugly “Am nearly done.”

Sammy laughed. “Let’s nag Jon then.”

“Isn’t that basically what we do anyway?”

Sammy laughed. “See yah later.”

“Yup. Back to the nightly shit show that is my home life.” Lynn said with a middle finger aimed at her own house down the street.

Sammy chuckled as she walked away. Lynn’s dad was pretty likeable but her older sister was turning into a mini version of her mom. And Lynn’s mom was a _ha'taaka wskha ahra_[1]. Sammy snorted. Teal’c had spent a lot of time teaching his team Goa’uld insults with the explanation that this way they would know what they were being called but Sammy strongly suspected it was so Jack could be his utmost creative. Of course then he’d pretend he didn’t understand a thing they said which defeated the purpose of the whole thing. It came in handy as a secret language for her and Jon though as she didn’t know a bit of Alteran though she could now read it fairly well as the language itself was dead and the only time Jack spoke it was when he had his head sucked.

When she hit the door she smelled cookies. Chocolate chip ones at that. “I’m home!” She yelled from the mud room where she took off her coat.

“Oh good! Come set the table! Greg and his family are coming for dinner tonight.” Mary yelled back from the kitchen.

Well that explained the cookies. “Ok. Let me put my backpack upstairs and I’ll be right back.” Sammy said as she came through the great room.

Mary smiled at her. Last week Sammy had slipped and sleepily called her ‘mom’ when she said goodnight. Mary’s heart about burst but she resisted the urge to crush her in a hug. She may not have made this girl but she loved her as much as she did her boys. And her boys told her over the holidays that it felt like Sammy had been their little sister all along.

Mary sighed. The past few months had been rough but Sammy seemed to be weathering it well. The advantage of knowing most of this was bull crap, she supposed. Jon was coming over tonight as well. Mary wanted to make sure they were both handling this like adults and not letting it get to them. She’d heard some comments from a few of the other parents who had not realized she was Sammy’s parent so she decided she needed to discuss the situation with them.

“How was school today?” Mary asked Sammy when she came back down in dressed in one of Jon’s t-shirts and sweatpants. 

Sammy shrugged as she started pulling the oak table apart so she could add a couple leaves. “It was school.”

Mary gave her a long look. She could order the girl to spill it. Probably should before everyone gets here as she’d have to deal with how Jon is feeling about post-pissing everyone off stress at that point… but perhaps a different tactic might be more in order. “Did you talk to Heather at all recently?”

Sammy gave her a startled look.

“Her mom called me. Apparently her old friends are being fairly mean to her and she was hoping you and Lynn, and probably Lori might be nice to her for now.”

Sammy gave Mary the hairy eyeball. “Seriously?”

Mary gave Sammy an amused smile. “I think she’s resigned herself to her daughter not running with the in girls anymore… and might actually be secretly happy about that. She seems nice enough honestly.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never met Heather’s parents but yah, she’s nice enough away from the Karens.”

“Well, don’t be surprised if you get invited over for dinner soon.”

“Oh joy.” Sammy told her as she folded napkins.

Mary chuckled. “She might surprise you, Sammy. Sometimes people turn out entirely different then you think they might.”

Sammy snorted in amusement. If someone had told her the sarcastic hard ass she’d met over a briefing room table would turn out to be her charming and delightfully amusing husband one day she’d have laughed then too. Mary might have a point. “We talked a little. Someone has been chumming the rumor mill and she thinks she knows who it is but wouldn’t tell me.”

“Stirring up general trouble or something specific?”

“Hard to tell when everyone avoids me like I have the plague.”

“Ah.” So that was what it was. “Friends included?”

“Not close ones.”

Mary nodded. “They will forget about it when the next bit of drama occurs. High school is a lot like _General Hospital_. Mostly silly, hardly any truth and most of the gossip is about who is cheating on who.”

Sammy smiled a little. “It’s just frustrating. I wasn’t popular but now I walk in a room and hear crickets.”

“Ouch.”

“Yah.”

“Help me finish making dinner and we can binge on something trashy while we wait for everyone else to get home.” Mary purposely handed her the salad bowl with the clear intent that Sammy prep said side dish.

Sammy smiles a little. It wasn’t really her thing but Mary mostly made fun of how idiotic the actors were in the same way Sammy sometimes mocked bad science fiction. It was its own kind of fun.

[1] Roughly… Weak dirty bitch


	2. Chapter 2

Jon showed up shortly after Sammy talked to Mary about her day. She begged off watching junk on TV to go get schoolwork done, however.

“She’s upstairs.” Mary said absently from the couch while eating a cookie.

Jon grabbed a handful and headed up the stairs to the back of the house where Sammy’s bedroom was. “Knock knock.” He said cheerfully with a small grin. She was on her bed reading a novel.

It took a moment for Sammy to come back to the real world. “Oh. Hey.”

Jon’s shoulders sagged. “And the honeymoon is over.” He flops dramatically across her bed. “I guess I’ll have to eat these fresh delicious cookies by myself then.” He said with great regret and raises one to his widely opened mouth.

Sammy pounces on him. “You give me that cookie right now and no one gets hurt.” She told him, pinning him to the bed.

“What do I get in trade?” He asked her with a thoughtful frown.

Sammy’s mouth crashed onto his. It took less than three seconds for Jon to go from pretending to be unresponsive to one hand buried in her hair and the other cupping her rear, pulling her close.

“That was worth a cookie.” He admitted when she drew her face away slightly.

Sammy stuck her tongue out at Jon. “You better not have smushed it.”

* * *

Will and Mare exchanged a look over the dinner table. Greg was telling a story about his coworker that normally would have had both Jon and Sammy laughing hysterically but currently had them giving half hearted chuckles. Greg pretends not to notice even when his wife nudges him under the table. As dinner wound down, Greg’s oldest was getting bored.

“Aunt Sammy?”

“Yah kiddo?” Sammy answered absently.

“Can we play with the PlayStation in the den?”

It was technically Jon’s but he’d bought himself a new one and left Sammy his after he’d gone back home once he healed from his previous hockey injures.

“That sounds more fun than listening to boring grown ups.” Jon agreed.

Sammy rolled her eyes and Wil swallowed a chuckle. Adult Jack would have said the exact same thing. He also would prefer the company of children.

“Go have fun, guys.” Will told them.

After all the kids left the table Mare gave him a look.

“It will be good for them, Mare.” He told her simply but his wife frowned at him slightly.

“What exactly happened?” Greg’s wife asks them finally when they were completely alone.

Mare sighed. “Someone drugged Sammy and a few other girls at a party a few months ago. Jon was really upset about it especially after what happened with Conner and figured out how to find out who did it. Bill made sure everyone involved was prosecuted federally for it but now the kids in their school are treating Sammy like it’s somehow her fault that she stopped someone from randomly giving girls a date rape drug.” She explained.

“That’s awful.” Greg’s wife said in sad horror.

“I never understood high school even when I was in high school.” Greg said in general and sipped his coffee.

“They aren’t being nice to the other girl involved either. I think it’s her ex friends stirring things up but that’s just a guess on my part.” Mare said.

“You watch too many soap operas.” Wil said in amusement.

“I will never forgive them for firing that nice boy that played Dr. Webber.” Mare huffed in annoyance.

“Ma, that was in 1981. Let it go already.” Greg said and grinned at her. It was an old household joke between them.

“Jon looks a little like that guy.” Arora mused thoughtfully.

“You were five.” Greg pointed out.

“So?”

“So you don’t remember a random guy from a TV show from the seventies. You’re thinking of that actor from that show about the guy that fixes things.” Greg argued.

Wil and Mare just looked at each other.

“I thought our arguments were weird.” Wil mused.

Mare snorted on a stifled laugh.

* * *

In the den, Jon was fighting space pirates with Greg and Arora’s kids. It was the most relaxed he’d been in weeks and wondered if that was the whole reason they had come over in the first place. He figured sure Mare could have pushed them both to talk to her about school but this seemed more her MO. Lull them then get it out of them after everyone leaves and they think they are off the hook. As he obliterated aliens, Jon thought that Mare would have made a fantastic black ops coordinator. He laughed when he realized that this wasn’t the first time that he thought of that.

“This is an ambush, isn’t it?” Sammy asked him idly, all but reading his mind. He’d have been creeped out by Sammy’s question had they not spent the last nine years in each other’s pockets.

“Probably.” He agreed.

Sammy sighed. “Lynn asked if she could get her tutoring sessions here from now on.”

“Why?” Jon asked in obvious confusion then cheered when he killed another alien.

Sammy side-eyed the kids and coughed.

“Ah.” Was all Jon said and dropped it.

“Reloading.” Sammy called out before having her character jump out of her hiding spot and mowing down a row of aliens.

Jon chuckled. “Thor would be horrified.”

Sammy dissolved into a fit of giggles and got killed.

Jon laughed while he revived her. “Then again… it might be cathartic for him…”

“Stop.” Sammy said laughing so hard she was crying. “I’m gonna die again!”

* * *

Mare opted not to talk to the kids after dinner. Since it was Friday, she offered to let Jon sleep in the guest room so he didn’t have to drive home late.

As she settled against Wil’s chest for the night he rumbled a chuckle.

“What?” She asked him.

“You’re going to make them paranoid.”

“About what?”

“Talking about what’s been going on in school. Get it over with over breakfast.”

“They seemed tired, that’s all.”

“Yah… and the longer you drag it out the more they will think you are screwing with them.”

“Wil, I’d never screw with them like that.” Mare huffed in a hurt voice. Wil just raised his eyebrow a bit. “Well… not intentionally anyway.” Wil chuckled again. “Ok, ok, fine I’ll talk to them both in the morning while you make pancakes.”

“How am I now making pancakes?”

“Do you really need to ask that question, dear?”

Wil sighed and rolled his eyes. “No. Not really.” He admitted.

“Good. Let’s go to sleep and pretend we don’t notice when whichever one of them sneaks into the other’s room in the middle of the night.”

“You were never this calm about the boys doing that kind of thing.”

“The boys weren’t grown adults stuck in teenager bodies.” Mare said reasonably and turned to kiss Wil gently on his mouth. “Go to sleep, dear.”

“Yes dear…”

* * *

Sammy woke up cuddled on Jon’s shoulder.

“When did you get here?” He mumbled.

“I donno. I had to pee last night.”

“So you came here?” Jon asked her in incredulous concern.

“No, you idiot. I used the bathroom and then I came here instead.” She told him while she punched his shoulder playfully.

“Ow. Carter. That hurts.” He grumbled but pulled her close and buried his face in her neck. “Evil violent woman.” He mumbled. “You should probably go before Wil and Mary get up.” He told her after a quick but heartfelt kiss.

“Too late!” Wil called from the room next to them.

“Rats.” Jon said and winced but all Sammy did was giggle. “No giggling, Carter, or I tickle.” He groused.

“I tickle back.” She warned him.

“I am willing to take that risk.” Jon told her and arched his fingers threateningly.

“Both of you get up and get dressed.” Will ordered them through the wall.

“Spoilsport.” Jon grumbled as Sammy rolled off the bed still giggling.

* * *

“Okay you two. I’ve been told my waiting to talk to you both about this stuff is making you both paranoid.” Mare said as she poured herself a cup of coffee after making Jon and Sammy’s exactly the way they each liked and nudging them to the kitchen table that still had extra leaves in it and was taking up far too much of the kitchen currently.

“We didn’t think—”

“Yes you did.” Wil said from across the kitchen, pointing his spatula at them. “I know you both remember.”

Sammy and Jon both shrank into their shoulders and gave him guilty looks.

“Be that as it may…” Mare said, “I apologize to both of you. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I just didn’t have enough time over the last couple days to see how either of you is handling this without interruptions.” She told them as she sat. “So, how are things at school?”

Sammy looked away but didn’t answer.

“Fine.” Jon said cautiously.

“That bad, huh?” Mare asked them gently.

Sammy huffed out a sigh.

“I’m sorry, Carter. I was kind of hoping people would mostly be mad at me not you.” Jon admitted.

She shrugged. “You didn’t have any way of knowing.”

“You could have warned me.”

She gave him a pained look. “I kind of didn’t have many friends the first time so I really didn’t have any frame of reference.” She admitted with a small wince.

“I find that hard to believe.” Wil scoffed.

Mare smiled and shook he head. She clearly got it and Sammy gave her a grateful smile. “No one hangs with the curve buster but the other geeks and sometimes the stoners because they honestly don’t care.”

“Yah.” Sammy said a little sadly.

“And let me guess… all the other geeks were AV club weirdoes?”

“Yup.” Sammy agreed.

“You were better off.” Mare tells her emphatically as if from the position of experience.


	3. Chapter 3

Heather found Lynn sitting on the school steps waiting for Brian to get done cleaning up the gym from drama club. “Hey… um, can we talk?”

Lynn gave her a side eye. “Sammy told me what happened. You don’t need to apologize.” She said, her voice dry.

“Actually, I figured that you guys are besties and all. Um, the thing is… I think I need your help.”

“My help?”

“Ok, actually the people you’re friends with help.”

“And which people would those be?” Lynn asked idly as she sketched the tree across from her and added a haunting horrified face to it.

“Ha ha, cool.” Heather said, looking over at the drawing. “So that other one you did was Jon’s uncle, wasn’t it?”

“Yup.”

“You’re really good.”

“Thanks.’

“Yah so… um… before you made friends with Sammy you used to hang around the emo kids.” She looks hopeful. “Right?”

“Kind of. I didn’t really fit in. They were just the ones that weren’t freaked out by me.”

Heather nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense. You’re smarter than almost everyone but Sammy.”

Lynn shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Everyone says so, yah freak.” Heather said with a self deprecating laugh.

“Is everyone your former friends who have the combined IQ of a moldering turnip by chance?” Lynn asked her mildly.

Heather laughed. “Yah ok, they aren’t the brightest and it’s kind of exactly why I need your help.”

“What do you expect to happen?”

Heather shrugged. “With any luck the person talking shit ‘bout Sammy gets in huge trouble for starters.”

“I could get behind that.” Lynn agrees. “What do you need from me?”

* * *

“Where’s Danny?” Jon asked in confusion. It was time for their monthly check in with their other selves who were not currently available so Daniel had taken over the job. But today, it was Vala however who had shown up.

“Off playing with rocks I imagine, darling.” She answered as Jon and Sammy climbed into Daniel’s aging sedan. Like Jack, he didn’t bother with expensive vehicles he wouldn’t be around to use much anyway. Sturdy and reliable were more his speed. Vala had a little red Escort herself but had Daniel’s car today which made Sammy ponder that situation thoughtfully.

“So, where are we doing this?” Jon asked, oddly dropping the teen kid routine entirely with Vala.

“Oh, the usual place I’m told.” Vala says airily with a wave of her hand as she pulls out into traffic. “General Man Meat said I was to ask how things were going after your little adventure.”

Sammy and Jon looked at each other and Sammy snorted on a laugh. “General Man Meat?” They said together and stared at her open mouth from the back seat.

“Camron thought calling him General Hottie was trite.” She said with a self deprecating laugh.

“Tell me you called him that to his face.” Sammy said with utterly astonished awe in her voice.

“Well, of course I did, darling. It was hard not to when he walked in on me wearing nothing but his boxers and a confused smile.”

Sam bit her lip and stifled a giggle. Jon looked sort of traumatized. “What did he say?” Sammy demanded.

“Oh let me think…” Vala says vaguely as she pulls into a parking spot in front of the diner. “You know, I think he just stared at me like I’d grown an extra head.” She admitted and laughed.

Jon’s cheeks were flaming.

“Oh, relax, darling. I’m not going to gobble you up.” She grinned. “First of all because you are far too young for me.” She winked. “Secondly because the other you,” She points at Sammy, “would pulverize me for even thinking it.” And then she looked wistful for a moment. “Besides…” but she trailed off and didn’t complete her thought as they entered the diner.

After they sat down and ordered their meals Vala sat up straighter and flipped one of her pigtails behind her shoulder. “Now then. I’m well aware of the party line. How are you both really feeling?”

Sammy sighed and her shoulders sagged. Jon plopped his elbows on the table and frowned at his hands.

“I see.” Was all Vala said.

“It shouldn’t bug us.” Sammy grumbled.

“Oh darling just because you did it before and know it’s not forever doesn’t mean it’s not supposed to bother you.”

Jon looked at her a little surprised. “I figured this would be a piece of cake.” He admitted.

“But it hasn’t been.”

“Nope.” Sammy said, popping the P.

“Well, I don’t know much about your high school but I do know a bit about politics.”

“And theft.” Jon quipped.

Vala grinned at him. “That too.” She agreed and pointed her fork at Jon before going back to eating her salad. “As I was saying, however. You, darlings, should not expect this to not bother you. Not being liked is quite unpleasant… and I should know.” She frowned thoughtfully. “I, however, am working on it.” She said enigmatically.

Sammy tilted her head and gave Vala a thoughtful look.

“So just ride it out, huh?”

“Most likely yes, and be _yourselves_. Sam, everyone likes you for a reason. Just be you. Jon… you’re… well you’re a grumpy old goat but people seem to find you amusing so use that.”

“Thanks.” He said dryly as Sammy giggled. “Everyone’s a critic.” He grumbled which just made Sammy giggle more.

“Now then, let’s finish our meals so I can drop you off at home, Jon. Samantha and I have things to discuss.”

Jon looked at Sammy in confusion but she just shrugged as though she didn’t know either. He looked at Vala and started to ask. “What —”

“Ah! None of that. This is strictly between she and I.”

“Myself.” Jon muttered under his breath only to be nudged in the ribs by a very pointy elbow from Sammy.

“What?”

“Knock it off, grammar nazi.” She said under her breath but she was fighting an amused smile.

Jon went back to eating his meal and pretended to ignore them both.

“So how is Teal’c handling his chess buddy being out of town?” Sammy asked Vala.

“Oh, moping a bit as I am simply terrible at chess and Daniel only wants to play that dreadful Goa’uld game with him.”

Jon put up a hand and made a frantic shushing noise.

Vala just laughed though. “Darling, there’s not a soul here who has any idea I’m not talking about some Jewish fellow.”

“Well they do now…” Jon grumped.

“Remind me again why Sam loves you?”

“I have a big—”

“Hey!” Sammy cut in.

“—Personality.” He finished.

Sammy snorted and rolled her eyes.

“What?” Jon asked.

“You know I feel like there’s only the tiniest bit of variation when you two drop the act.”

“Oh he’s not acting. He really is emotionally seventeen.” Sammy said chuckling.

“She’s not wrong.” Jon admitted which made Sammy and Vala laugh.

“As delightful as this has been, we have other business to attend to. Grab your coats, darlings.” Vala said as she flagged down the waitress.

* * *

After they dropped Jon off at his apartment, Vala drove to a nearby mall.

“I don’t really need to go shopping…” Sammy told her.

“It’s too cold for the park. We can just window shop while we talk.”

“Oh. Ok.”

Vala patted her hand affectionately. “You’re not in trouble, at least not with me. I was asked to talk to you privately about something that’s all.”

Sammy looked at her perplexed as they entered the mall.

“Jack asked me to speak to you about where things are with his counterpart romantically.”

“We aren’t… I mean we are but not like that, Vala.” Sammy said in near panic, blushing furiously.

“Darling, relax. He’s not mad if you are even if he’s put the fear of death into himself about it.”

“He probably did that because of the pregnancy risk.”

“Well, with your track record so far, all it takes is one mistake…”

“Vala.” Sammy squeaked, panicked, she looked around to check if anyone overheard them.

“Oh relax darling. Everyone has sex. Which brings me to the next point. Do you need me to take you to clinic? I know you’re technically not legally allowed to go without your parent’s permission but Sam tells me there’s a place called Planned Parenthood that will hook you up and she gave me an address in case I needed discretion in some other matters.”

“Other matters?”

“Um… never mind that part. So?” She shrugged. “Do we need to go?”

“No.” Sammy said with a slightly despondent shrug.

“Well, that sounds like trouble?”

“No, it’s just… He says he doesn’t want to take advantage of me.”

“Well that certainly sounds like the Jack O’Neill we all know and love to varying degrees.” Vala agreed. “When have you approached him about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, darling in my experience and I suspect yours as well, timing is everything with Jack.” They came to a cookie vendor and bought two coffees and a bag of mini cookies to share.

Sammy sighed. “Well, that’s just it, he seems to have just made up his mind that we are only going so far and that’s that.”

“Given your power over him, darling, I rather suspect there is more to it than that.” Vala said and sipped her coffee.

Sammy blushed slightly. “I don’t have that much power over him.” She mumbled.

“Oh you think that, do you?” Vala asked and nudged the shorter girl’s shoulder with her own.

“I don’t!” Sammy insisted.

“Let’s review how many times Samantha Carter has talked one Jack O’Neil into doing things he does not want to against his own will? One—”

“Ok ok, you made your point. But… I mean… it’s like he doesn’t _want_ to.” Sammy almost whined.

“Doesn’t want to? Or doesn’t want to under the circumstances?” Vala asked her pointedly.

“What do you mean?”

“Has Jack ever taken advantage of you when you’re drunk?”

“Well, there was the once but we both were.”

“Right… and what about other times? When you were distraught? Has he ever taken advantage of you then?”

Sammy wasn’t sure what Vala was getting at initially but when it hit her, she looked horrified. “I’ve only been coming on to him when I’m wasted or something bad has happened.”

“And that’s not the kind of man he is, darling.” Vala smiled kindly. “I rather envy you. Most men think yes is an automatic green light.”

Sammy sighed.

“Try approaching him when everything is fine. That should do the trick.” Vala told her with vigor.

Sammy thought for a little bit.

“Daniel is turned off by you teasing him because it reminds him too much of Sha’ri.” She told Vala.

“I beg your pardon?” Vala asked and shoved a cookie in her mouth.

“He can’t deal with you being anything like her. It makes him feel like he’s just replacing her with you instead of moving on.”

“Well he’s just going to have to get over that. He’s far too fun to tease.” Vala says with amusement but her tone was emphatic. She would not be changing just to catch a man even she was stupidly in love with the giant pain in her mikta.

Sammy shrugged. “You shouldn’t have to. If he doesn’t want you for who you really are, he doesn’t really want you at all.”

“You’ve spent some time thinking about this.”

Sammy shrugged again. “I’ve had almost as much time to overanalyze your situation as I have my own stupid decisions over the years.” She admitted.

“I can’t imagine how hard it is to watch yourself and want to slap yourself in the head.”

Sammy chuckled. “I heard about Martouf. What on Earth was she thinking?”

“I haven’t the foggiest darling but I’m glad some of the other Sams talked some sense into her. That man loves you to distraction. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t.” Sammy said quietly.

“See that you don’t.” Vala said gruffly and hugged Sammy.


	4. Chapter 4

James supposed he wasn’t the kind of guy who stood out in a crowd. He guessed that was the point. He could literally just hang out in the same spot as Karen and her flock and none of them would so much as waste their time to even abuse him.

Lynn, on the other hand, had always been nice to him and not in the fake way girls that just wanted something were nice. Sure, she had a sarcastic attitude but someone had told him once when they were all in junior high together that at least one of Lynn’s parents was abusive.

Lynn’s boyfriend, Brian, was the poster boy for ‘take no shit’ so James could only imagine how that was going currently. At least she had someone though, and she had apparently made some real friends too, ones she genuinely connected with. He could tell she’d never felt like she fit in with his own loose group of oddballs even though they all had been more than willing to include her in stuff. It felt like she was afraid they were all judging her for her screwed up home life. He figured she probably felt more comfortable with Sammy’s friends because Sammy had lost both her parents and it sounded like Jon had too. Brian’s mom was a huge pot head herbal healer and Jason’s dad was a rich bigoted jerk that wouldn’t accept his only kid had turned out gay. It was the ‘I need someone to love me’ club for sure. James shrugged to himself. Nothing wrong with needing people that got you.

Karen and her friends were another matter. Instead of being troubled and deep, they were shallow and spoiled. James had never been a fan of their clique even when they were all kids in the same class but he was less of a fan now. They had thankfully always ignored him as irrelevant but he remembered them teasing Lynn endlessly for wearing hand me downs and the unflattering haircut her parents forced on her that had made her strong features look masculine. Like having garbage parents was somehow her fault.

Karen and her gaggle of friends were currently lounging on the steps below him in their current assumption of territory. Notably Heather and Amy were missing from the bunch now. James wondered if it had anything to do with that crazy couple of parties he’d heard rumors about. He knew Lynn suspected something about the events which was why she’d asked him to do what he was currently doing, shadowing the so-called popular girls of Mountain View High School.

James wasn’t even trying to hide. He was just more or less in the same general vicinity, appearing to be studying while he smoked a joint with his earphones on. He bobbed his head periodically as though he was listening to music to complete the ignore me picture. Since her crowd treated him like he was invisible to them, this worked out fine. The Dictaphone given to him by Sammy, who had apparently been instructed who to give it to and him not to tell her who he was supposed to be using it on, was in his pocket, the wire for the controller was snaked up his sleeve, and the microphone was snagged with a clip onto an outside pocket so all he had to do was hit record. He was only a few feet away so all he had to do was face the microphone in their general direction. Sammy said it was top of the line and would pick up if a snail sneezed within thirty feet.

James’ instructions were to hang around until the Karens stupidly bragged about what they had done. Knowing the collective IQ of them without Heather or Amy to be the voices of reason was not remotely high, James gave them no more than another two days to do so in his presence. He’d already been shadowing them for a couple days without any of them so much as noticing his presence.

“Do you think he’ll do any time?”

James hit record. They might not say anything useful but Marie had brought it up finally.

“Nah. Guys like him always get off.” Kimmi told Marie.

“But the FBI came.” Carrie said. Carrie was the only one who had any sense compared to the rest of them. James supposed Heather possibly did, after all, she’d chosen sides.

“So?” Karen asked snidely.

“So it’s the freaking FBI!” Carrie exclaimed piteously.

“Why are you such a baby.” Marie said snidely.

“Uh… because it was our idea.” Carrie said as though Marie was a moron. James had to agree with that.

“My idea and it’s not like we personally drugged them.” Karen said with a disgusted eyeroll.

“Ok… no but…” Carrie hedged.

“But what? No one cares that some losers got laid.” Karen said in disgust. “I mean, look who it was. A major dweeb and the class cry baby.”

That crybaby used to be your friend, James thought uncharitably at Karen.

“And the dweeb says it was a trick all along.” Karen continues pointedly.

“Bitch.”

“Yah, screw her.”

The four of them laughed meanly about their victims.

“She’s probably just saying that now because she got in trouble with her parents for crying rape again.” Kimmi said with a sneer.

“She is such an attention whore.” Marie agreed.

“Amy is just a regular whore.” Karen said of her former friend.

The group of girls laughed again.

“Oh but you can’t call them whores to their faces because that’s mean…. They’re ‘victims’.” Marie said with disgust.

“Oh no! Don’t be mean to the whores!” Carrie said laughing.

“Too bad it was the Dweeb’s boyfriend that got lucky. Now he’ll never toss her to the curb because she puts out.” Karen said. It had been her idea to sic Heather on Sammy in the hopes that it would break them up. Jon came from a pretty high in the ranks military family. He was a shoo in for the Air Force officers school. Karen figured Heather could break them up then Karen would offer him sympathy when Heather dumped him.. but then Heather had sided with the Dweeb.

“Oh, I bet I could break them up. She isn’t _that_ pretty.” Kimmi, who wore her hair in the same long blond style Karen and all their other friends did as well, said.

“I bet you a drive in my dad’s Bugatti you can’t break those two up.” Marie told Kimmi sarcastically.

“Yah, they are so into each other, it’s gross.” Carrie agreed.

“You’re on.” Kimmi said, a challenge in her eyes.

James rolled his eyes. It probably wasn’t what Lynn was looking for but they had admitted it was their idea. He figured that was enough to go to Principal DeLuise with anyway.

Later that afternoon, James passed the tape and the recorder to Lynn’s boyfriend.

“Thanks, man.” Brian told him.

James just shrugged.

“Hey, uh, I don’t know if you are into sci-fi at all but Saturdays, the guys and I hang out and watch Wormhole and some other stuff.” Brian hedged.

James shrugged noncommittally. “Just the guys?”

“Most of the time. The girls tend to go to Sammy’s and talk about nerd stuff.” Brian told him with a self deprecating laugh. He knew he wasn’t the smartest guy in his circle. Jon was, though Jon would never admit to that. Jason was a close second.

“I’ll think about it.” James said.

“Cool. Here’s my address. My mom makes the best snacks.” Brian said with a grin to James who dressed more or less grunge and hung out with the emo kids and the skaters. “She kind of smells like weed all the time though. Don’t bring it up in front of her.”

James laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.

Brian walked away stuffing the recorder into his backpack and James watched him leave. Generally James was a loner, not even being more than casually friends with his own circle, but he did like Brian’s friends. Especially Jon who was hilariously sarcastic.


	5. Chapter 5

After listening to the recording with horror , Brian had made a terrible tactical error. Instead of giving the recording to Lynn or Jon, he’d given it directly to Sammy.

Sammy had thanked him after he’d stammered to her that she really needed to hear it and she’d kissed his cheek fondly and thanked him.

This would later bite him in the ass incredibly hard.

* * *

After a sleepless night, Sammy was livid. No, she was beyond livid. She had listened to it twice, her eyes narrowing in anger. When she stormed out of the house before school the next morning without a word Mary wondered what on earth the girl was so angry about. Jon got angry like that, not Sammy. She headed upstairs to look for clues as to what had gone on. She had access to Sammy’s passwords. It had been one of their requirements that they would never pry except in an emergency but computer access hinged on transparency. She had nothing to hide in the chat room or e-mails so she’d readily complied. Besides, Sammy had dummy accounts and a bug out bag for emergencies. Jack had drilled justified paranoia into her head for years.

But this time, Sammy had left Mary no clues in her online conversations or emails. Mary knew about the dummy accounts. She wasn’t stupid. But there was no activity on those either. She looked around the lavender and yellow room she’d personally decorated for an almost thirteen year old girl when the confirmation that they had been approved to foster had been delivered. How little she’d known then. It had been heavily implied their charge would be the child of a deceased SGC member, which was technically not a lie; Major General Jacob Carter had been an active participant in the program by all accounts.

Mary had not been prepared for the nearly thirteen year old clone of her boss’s boss nor her now a general himself, former CO current husband clone. She’d heard rumors about the clone but the kid had disappeared into the wind and the incident classified well above her pay grade as Wil put it and she’d put it out of her mind as not an issue she needed to deal with.

Mary tapped her chin thoughtfully and reset the pins holding her bun together on the back of her head. What was different… she wondered and spotted the desk drawer not quite closed. Now that was certainly out of place in her scrupulously tidy daughter’s bedroom. Jack and Sam had agreed that formalizing Sammy’s adoption would give her an added layer of protection if anyone wanted to track her down. Mary slid the drawer open and spotted the Dictaphone tape but not the Dictaphone itself. Now why on earth do you have one of those? Mary wondered and took it out.

* * *

Sammy went on slow burn all morning. The more she thought about it the angrier she got. What if instead of Jon she’d been dating someone like Jonas. Hell, even Pete would probably stupidly thought she was just horny and taken advantage of her. What if she’d gone to the party alone like Amy had. And bad enough that she’d done it but it almost was like Karen had targeted specific girls that night. She needed to get to the bottom of this.

Sammy ditched her next class to go find Amy instead. She found her in home economics working on some kind of fabric concoction Sammy couldn’t make heads or tails of. “Hey, Amy. Can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Sammy had the odd advantage of knowing how to look like she had every business wandering into someone else’s class and asking to talk to another student. Most of the time the teachers just assumed another teacher had sent her or given her permission.

“Uh… sure, what’s up?” Amy said, putting down her work.

Sammy’s face scrunched up partially on one side. “In the hallway if we could. It’s kind of private.”

“Oh, oh yah sure.” She said and got up. Ms. Westfall nodded to them that they could take whatever this was to the hallway. Amy was one of her top students and had a chance at becoming a fashion designer if she wanted it.

Once the door shut Sammy swallowed and let out a slow breath. “Amy… is there any particular reason Karen might be mad at you?”

Amy smiled sardonically. “You mean other than I called her out when she talked Heather into trying to break you and Jon up so she could get her claws into him?”

“Wait, what?” Sammy asked incredulously.

“Look, I know how they are. I was friends with them for years but you went through enough. What Karen wanted to do was just mean.” Amy huffed. “I thought Heather was a better person than that. She and I went to kindergarten together.”

Sammy thought for a moment. “She did take a stab at it and Lynn and I were ready to smash her sideways if she figured out how to insinuate herself into the Hockey group but she changed her mind after she got to know us both. I think she’s done being friends with Karen.” Sammy speculated.

Amy shook her head. “It’s going to be a long time before I trust her again no matter what she says.”

Sammy nodded. “Just so you know, when I told her what Stump did, her biggest reaction to all of it was her finding out that guy raped you. I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, it’s just… she wanted to catch them because of what happened to you.” She told the other girl. It may not seem like it, Amy, Sammy thought, but Heather really cares about you or she wouldn’t have gone along with Jon’s harebrained plan.

Amy sighed and fought tears. “I’m still mad at her. It was her party.”

“Yah… but I think I know who invited Stump.”

It was at that moment that Amy knew too. Amy’s mouth firmed when she looked into Sammy’s eyes. “She’s that petty.”

“Yah.” Sammy said.

“She hated that you got so much attention last spring. Like almost getting raped was some kind of nice thing for you.” Amy glared off down the hallway for a long moment. “She hates you.”

“It’s pretty mutual now.”

“What are you going to do?”

Sammy’s face folded into the deadly cold look she tended to get when someone hurt Jack. “I’m going to make sure she gets what she deserves.”

Amy blinked at Sammy for a moment. “Ok…”

“It’s probably better if you don’t know the details.” Sammy said with finality and walked away.

Amy watched her go, worry in her eyes. Jon was in her next class. He’d know what to do.

* * *

Jon wasn’t quite panicking yet. He’d talked to Brian first who admitted he’d just given the tape to Sammy. Then he’d called Mare who told him she’d found said tape after Sammy stormed out of the house that morning and had made copies and turned them over to Principal Pete and the Cheer coach this morning after school started. Jon had a sick feeling in his gut. Sammy wouldn’t just barge in, she’d wait for an opening… like after school. He knew if she ditched him, she was going in for the kill. He had a sick feeling in his gut though that Sammy was going to do something drastic. He told Mare not to worry, that he’d handle it.

When she didn’t meet him by his moped like she normally would, Jon headed for Karen’s usual hang out. Hopefully, he wasn’t too late.

He rounded the corner of the building to the side entrance of the school where Karen and her friends hung out but stayed out of line of sight for the confrontation that was clearly brewing.

Sammy walked up to Karen and her friends, her strides long and purposeful, her body language seething with indignation.

“Oh hey look, it’s the most popular girl in school.” Karen said with a sneer and a laugh.

Sammy didn’t stop until she was nose-to-nose with the other girl. “Who the hell do you think you are?” She said, her voice furious.

“Me?” Karen laughed. “Who the hell do you think _you_ are?”

“You think talking your druggy friend into giving people date rape drugs is funny? Amy was your friend. So was Heather.”

Karen just laughed though and used a fake pitying voice. “Oh, does little Sammy want to defend my friends? You’re so full of yourself. Do you know that? You waltz into this school out of nowhere and think you’re going to be the center of attention and when you weren’t you made up a fake story about a kid from another school trying to rape you.”

Sammy looked at her in shock. “Is that seriously what you think is going on here? I don’t give a crap if I’m popular. I didn’t before and I don’t now! You’re crazy. Do you know that? You’re so invested in being the most popular kid in school you don’t care who or how much you hurt other people to be that. None of this shit matters after high school. Don’t you get that?”

Karen just laughed. “Oh sweetie, it’s not about popularity. It’s about coming out on top. And the only way you do that is when you step on the people trying to get in your way.” She looked Sammy up and down with a sneer. “You should be thanking me anyway. You got what you wanted because of me. Jon is the kind of guy that would probably marry the first girl that puts out for him. You won.”

Two things happened very rapidly at that point. Jon knew that was exactly the wrong thing to say to Sam. Sammy’s fist pulled back with lightning speed. Jon moved like the former black ops specialist he was and pinned Sammy’s arms back before she did something that got her suspended or worse.

“Sam, stop. It’s over.” He told her as he pulled her away from the confrontation.

“Let me go, Jack.” Sammy snarled, so furious she’d utterly abandoned her cover.

“Sam. She’s not worth it, Sam. She’s not worth the consequences.” He said, hoping reason would calm Sammy down.

“You think I give a damn?” Sammy said, still struggling.

It took everything Jon had to restrain her. “I know you don’t but everyone else is going to care. Sam. Sammy stop. Just stop.” Jon had dropped any pretense himself to get through to Sam.

Sammy bared her teeth in a snarl at Karen and her friends who didn’t know how to react to this version of Sammy or Jon and were just staring at them mystified.

“Mary took care of it. They aren’t going to get away with what they did.”

Sammy grinned evilly. “They sure won’t.” She said and flashed the Dictaphone at the shocked girls.

Karen lunged for the recorder. Sammy reacted without thought and swept the other girl’s legs, toppling her.

“Ok that’s enough let’s go.” Jon told Sammy firmly and started to frog marched her away from the other girls. “DeLuise’ office first, then I’m taking you home.”

“I don’t want to go home.” Sam argued.

“Fine. We’ll go to my place but we aren’t staying here.” He growled at her.

“Fine.” She huffed.

Jon let go of one of her arms but firmly held on to the other and tugged her out of range of Karen who was finally getting up. “If you have any brains at all, I’d back off, Karen. Her whole family has been teaching her how to fight since she was little.” He told the other girl who was furious.

“If you think she’s getting away with kicking me, you’re out of your mind.” Karen snarled.

“Everyone saw you lunge at her.” James said from behind Jon. He’d gone unnoticed by everyone but Jon up until that point.

“We all heard what you said too.” Lacy said, coming from around the blind corner by the door. She nodded at her teammate who still had the look of a woman who wanted to murder but Sammy did nod back. Lacy had been very cool with her the last few weeks, unable to separate the truth from the lies about the infamous party. Now everyone would know Karen had orchestrated the whole thing and why.

The group of kids standing with Sammy and Jon faced Karen and her friends.

James turned to Sammy. “I’ll take the recording to DeLuise.” He told her.

Sammy deflated slightly. “Ok.” She said and unplugged the mic and control cord before handing it to Lynn’s friend.

James motioned for Lacy and the other kids to come with him.

Jon looked pointedly at Karen’s friends and walked away, firmly holding Sammy’s hand.


	6. Chapter 6

Back at Jon’s apartment he popped the tab of a beer and handed it to Sammy. She sighed and took a long drink off it without saying anything.

“You ok?” He asked her gently.

She shook her head. “I can’t believe she did all that just because I was momentarily more popular than her because I stopped a rapist.”

Jon shrugged. “She’s a kid, Sam. She doesn’t know any better.”

“I knew better by her age”.

“You had Jacob. That kid has whoever her dad is and by her comments I don’t think she’s learning the best stuff from the guy.”

Sammy sighed and shook her head before draining her beer and handing it back to him.

Jack sighed and opened another for her. She was going to blow through his beer but it was hardly the first time she’d done that. At least she was safely home with him not at some bar. Jon knew he didn’t need to worry because Sammy knew that her body was only fourteen and the beer would have a bigger effect on her now than if she was twenty years older.

An hour later, Sam was comfortably tipsy and had decided she needed to do something about Jon ignoring her sexual advances. He let her go as far as she wanted but stopped her at penetration because the last thing he wanted was to put Sam through being a teen mom. He did make sure she was physically satisfied though and held her after she fell asleep in his bed.

Later that evening Mary let herself into Jon’s apartment when Sammy never came home and her second conversation with Principal DeLuise was his version of the scene the kids who brought him the second tape had described. She knew where Sammy was at that point.

The apartment was silent when she opened the door… until she heard soft snoring. Mary headed for the bedroom and found Sammy face down on Jon’s bare chest while he read one of Wil’s novels to a small bed lamp.

Jon’s head turned and he put his finger to his lips before she could say anything. He eased himself out from under Sammy and sat on the side of the bed while he hunted for his shorts. “I’ll be right out.” He whispered to her.

Mary frowned but walked away.

Jon sighed. Here we go again. He thought.

Moments later he joined Mary in the small living space of his apartment. “It’s not what it looks like.” He told Mary.

She gave him an incredulous look.

“I gave her some beer to relax. She wanted to… I didn’t let her. I didn’t drink with her, Mare, I swear. But she was really steamed and she wasn’t coming down. It was the only thing I could think of at the time.” He admitted.

Mary sighed. “It’s a good thing I know the truth or you would both be in a lot of trouble.”

“Yah, I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I figured you would know where she went.” He walked over to the efficiency kitchen and poured himself a glass of water.

Mary noted the boy did smell like sex but she believed him that he didn’t let things get further than was appropriate for their physical ages. She put her fingers to her temples. “Peter is going over the tapes with the cheer coach so they can decide what to do.” She told Jon.

“Good. All this started because those idiot girls went along with Karen’s petty vendetta about Sammy being popular for five minutes.”

“Why are kids so stupid?

Jon shrugged. “They don’t know any better is my guess.”

Mary sighed. “When she wakes up, feed her. She can stay here tonight as long as you promise to keep the status quo.”

Jon nodded. He’d kept his word and would continue to do so. Until Sam’s body caught up with her brain into something close to adult, he wasn’t taking chances. He loved her too much to put her in that position.

“Come by in the morning. I’ll make you guys breakfast. I might even have an update about the outcome of your future wife’s little escapade.”

“Believe it or not, Heather cooked this one up. It would have been fine had Brian given the tape to me or—‘

“You can stop right there. I know you too well to believe a word of that last part. You would have lost your shit too.” Mary gave him a hard look. “Justifiably as much as her anger was but you would have...” She didn’t finish her sentence but her eyes dared him to argue.

“Yes ma’am.” Jon conceded, his head hanging.

Mary smiled gently at him and walked over and gave him a hug. “You guys have a right to be angry about this. It was a really stupid prank that got way out of hand and hurt a lot of people. I also know the first thought both of you had was what if they hadn’t been there that night. Stop it. You were. You guys always have each other’s backs.” Mary said firmly.

“How would you—“

“Wil pays better attention than he realizes. It’s how he ended up on the job he had at the SGC.”

“Ah.”

“Go get some rest, Jon. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jon nodded. “Ok.. thanks Mare.”

She smiled at him affectionately. “Shower before you guys come over. Both of you.”

Jon’s eyes widened and he looked stricken.

Mary chuckled as she walked out of the apartment and gently shut the door behind her.

Jon scrubbed his hand in his already messy light brown hair. “Well shit.” He mumbled and went back to bed.

Sammy had slept through the whole thing. God she was beautiful. How the hell did a dork like him catch the attention of a woman like her anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

Two days later, Principal Peter DeLuise leaned casually against the window of the school conference room usually used for teacher brain storming sessions. He’d moved the table out and added extra chairs. A pair for each set of parents. The front seats were for the kids. He had not separated the groups but he knew that there would be a clear delineation in those front seats.

Slowly groups came into the room. Peter directed everyone to where they were meant to sit without explaining anything other then he wanted to talk to several people at once to save time.

Cathy came in and stood beside him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cathy was the cheer instructor and was lanky and wore her brown hair in a bob.

Peter shrugged and said simply. “They need to know, Cath.”

She sighed. She knew the ringleader was a handful but until he’d played those tapes she had no idea how vicious the girl was. Maybe she shouldn’t have ignored the innuendos and hearsay, but there was no proof. Until now.

Peter patted her shoulder encouragingly.

“What’s this about DeLuise?” Bob Brewster, Karen’s dad, asked him with a frown, as he entered the room, his wife silently by his side.

“Mr. Brewster, I assure you everything will become clear shortly.” Peter told him and winced internally. The guy was in for a rough ride.

“Well, make it quick. I don’t appreciate being called into the principal’s office like a naughty student.” He huffed and sat in the chair next to his wife. Deliberately or ignorantly choosing to pick a chair that meant a parent would be separated from their spouse.

The room continued to fill. Jon came in by himself. Peter shook his head minutely. He’d called the boy’s uncle but only gotten as far as his secretary who told him General O’Neill was meeting with the Joint Chiefs and unavailable but she’d take a message. He had no idea how to get a hold of the rest of the kid’s family. His aunt was out of the country and he didn’t have anyone else listed other than a Dr. Jackson who NORAD had said was ‘unavailable’. Whatever that meant.

After the kids were all sitting and giving each other the hairy eyeball, Peter walked to the front of the room. She’d hidden it well but Karen still had scratches on her face where she’d eaten dirt after trying to assault Sammy. Sitting next to Karen were her group of friends.

“First, I’d like to thank everyone for coming today. I know many of you have busy schedules so I will keep this as brief as possible.” He looked at the room, knowing he had their full attention. “I know all of you are aware of the events surrounding a series of unsupervised parties that happened during the school year. While I have no control over this being allowed or not in your homes, I deeply recommend you not allow your children to throw parties when you are not home.

“Moving along. With the help of the FBI, a local drug dealer has been apprehended. As well as several members of his staff participating in a drug ring that was going on in connection with our school. I’d like to remind everyone our school is a drug free zone and any dealing or imbibing while on school grounds is prohibited and subject to written reprimand up to and including expulsion.

“Having gotten that out of the way, it has come to light that those who were drugged were specifically targeted…” The door in the back of the room had opened quietly and a very tired looking casually dressed Jack O’Neill walked to the row with a single chair left and sat down next to Karen’s dad. Peter nodded to the man and continued. “Anyway, I am going to share something with all of you and then Coach Cathy and I will be explaining how this will be handled going forward.” He looked around the room and made sure at least some of the parents nodded. Karen, he noted when he glanced at the row of kids, sat with a defiant frown on her face.

Peter moved the boom box he’d brought and sat it on the desk in the corner and hit play.

The expressions in the room ran from shocked to saddened to angry depending on whose parents you looked at. Mary Amos looked like she wanted to throttle the girls who perpetrated this but she had that expression on her face from the time she came in the room. Peter suspected she’d already heard this at least once.

Karen’s dad looked bored like his daughter casually laughing about hurting people and this meeting wasn’t interesting enough to care about.

Amy’s father however apparently was on slow burn. The more Karen’s words sank in, the whiter his face got. It was bad enough when his daughter was mocked for being a victim, but when further into the recording and Karen admitted it was all to get back at them for daring to be more popular than Karen for a moment, Amy’s dad hurled himself out of his chair. “You little bitch.” He snarled and tried to get to Karen but Jack and Wil got to him first, grabbed him and held him back without a word. “How could you? Amy was your friend.” He all but sobbed.

“What? What are you talking about! Sammy is lying! She lies all the time. Connor wouldn’t rape anyone. I’ve known him since forever! He dated my sister! He doesn’t need to rape anyone. He’s good looking and rich!” Karen insisted.

Jack turned to Karen, his eyebrows drawn together. “Kid, I don’t know what your creepy friend told you but there is DNA evidence for at least a dozen rapes committed by him. He’s a serial rapist.”

“He’s not! If he was a rapist, how come he never raped me, huh? I didn’t have to put out for him but I did. How come he didn’t rape me too?”

Everyone looked at Karen like she was out of her mind.

“Mr. Lawrence, please take a seat. We all feel like you do.” Peter said.

“Like hell we do.” Karen’s dad snarled. “How dare you accuse my little girl of this. She’s never hurt anyone in her life.”

Now all the parents and Karen’s victims all stared at her dad. “Would you like to take a vote on that?” Heather’s dad asked him.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“My daughter was bullied by yours from the time they met. She thought that’s just how friends in high school are. She almost lost her best friend because of what your daughter did to her. To them.” He was now shouting, barely keeping a handle on his anger while Jack still restrained him.

“Okay people!” Peter said in a loud voice. “Everyone relax. Let’s all sit back down please.” He turned to Amy’s father. “Mr. Lawrence, do you need a moment?” The man’s eyes were wide and he was still white with fury.

“Come on,” Jack told the man he was still hanging on to. “Let’s go outside and talk for a few moments.”

“Yah… yah sure okay.” The smaller man agreed and walked out with Jack quietly, his head down in defeat.

Outside in the hallway Jack watched with concern as the other man stared off into the middle distance. “Name’s Jack.” He said, offering a hand.

“Michael.” He said with a sigh and shook Jack’s hand. “I’d have killed that kid if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“You had every right to want to.” Jack agreed.

“How can you be so calm after what happened? Isn’t Sammy your daughter?”

“Nah. Niece, Wil and Mary are her folks. The kid sitting with her is mine though. They aren’t related. Sammy is from my wife’s side of the family.” Jack explained. It wasn’t altogether untrue.

“I still don’t understand how you can be so calm. Your boy almost committed rape too.”

Jack shook his head. “He’d never do that. When Sammy acted strange, I was out of town so he called my best friend and had my buddies take them to the hospital. He’s a good kid.”

“Why couldn’t Amy have found one of those?” Michael said, tears clearly in his voice.

Jack sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t wish it on anyone. DeLuise will punish them. He signed off on Jon finding out who sold the drugs. Karen was stupid. If she hadn’t started lying about the situation after no one would have suspected her.” He looked Michael in the eyes. “They won’t go unpunished, especially not Karen.”

“What happened to the guy who tried to rape your niece?”

“Sammy’s testimony put him in jail. Other girls came forward and helped put in him jail for a really long time. It will be a decade before he ever sees the light and I’m going to every single parole hearing in full dress to object to his release.”

“Full dress?”

Jack grinned for the first time. “I know I don’t look it but I’m an Air Force General.”

“You’re right… you don’t look it. Don’t act it either.”

“Yah… McRaven mentioned that….”

“The McRaven?”

“Yup.” Jack grinned in amusement. “I was a colonel at the time though. He might have changed his mind since.”

Michael shook his head.

“Come on, let’s get back in there. In a way, I feel sorry for that girl. Her dad is garbage and he turned her into garbage. He’s the one I want to beat into the dirt.” Jack admitted.

Michael gave Jack a watery chuckle but turned to return to the room.

Back inside, both men stood by the door. Wil looked at Jack with a question in his eyes. Jack nodded. Wil turned back to Peter. “All clear.” He mouthed.

Peter nodded.

Cathy walked to the desk and leaned against it. “I know this was shocking for all of you and I’m sorry but I wanted everyone to understand that these aren’t accusations lightly delivered. Miss Brewster has admitted with her own words that she committed this crime. While it was not on school grounds, it was committed against classmates in retaliation for events at school. We cannot as a school allow this sort of behavior to go unnoticed or unpunished. As of today, she will serve a ten day suspension and has lost her spot on cheer.”

“What?” Karen shrieked, shock in her voice.

Cathy ignored her. “Kimmi, Marie, and Carrie, the three of you are also suspended for three days for participating in this plot and are on probation with cheer. If any of you gets so much as a detention, you’re permanently off cheer.” She told the girls sternly.

Cathy turned back to the Karen’s parents. “If I could expel her now, I would.” She told them and her announcement was met with grim smiles.

“Daddy!” Karen whined in supplication.

“In case you intend to go to the school board, Mr. Brewster, I must advise you they have been forwarded the tapes with a full transcript of who is speaking each time.”

Karen’s dad frowned. He could have argued anything if they didn’t have proof, dammit.

“Daddy!” Her eyes pleaded with her father. “Make them stop! They can’t do this to me!”

“Young lady, what you did is an egregious violation of the school’s code of conduct. I am writing a written recommendation to the school counsellor that you be required to attend anti bullying classes with her for the rest of the year.” Principal DeLuise told her.

“Daddy, you’re a lawyer! Stop them!”

“You stupidly bragged about your crime and you think I can fix that? That bleach you and your mother use for your hair must have soaked all the way through if you’re that stupid.” He said with disgust.

Michael and Jack exchanged a look. Michael nodded. He saw what Jack meant now.


	8. Epilogue

Heather sat on one side of Sammy, Lacy on the other. “That’s disgusting.” Heather said of Sammy’s unidentifiable lunch.

“Yah I know.” Sammy admitted.

“Here.” Heather said and slid half her salad on Sammy’s plate.

Lacy gave Sammy her bag of walnuts from her fruit and yogurt cup.

Sammy gave them both grateful smiles. “I wanna thank you guys…”

“You don’t need to. I’m sorry I believed Karen. I know she’s always been a bitch.” Lacy says with a shrug.

With Lacy as an eyewitness to the events and Karen suspended for a week and a half, several of Sammy’s classmates had apologized for not believing her. She wasn’t being ostracized any more. The rest of Karen’s friends were keeping a low profile after their suspensions were over.

“Jon’s dad is really a general?” Lacy asked Sammy.

“Uncle. His dad died when Jon was little. Uncle Jack has been raising him since.” Sammy corrected.

“Get this, her aunt married Jon’s uncle.” Heather told Lacy.

“That’s crazy.”

“Yah well they were friends a long time. We never thought they would actually go through with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“They used to joke all the time that if their assignments ended, they would get married. We thought they were kidding.”

Lacy giggled. “Do you think they were in love with each other the whole time?” She asked dreamily. “That’s so romantic.”

“Like a Rebecca Silver novel!” Heather agreed.

“I know right!?” Lacy said excitedly.

Sammy chuckled and shook her head. There was that really weird space western one she’d written that sounded a tad familiar for some reason. “So I know we are just the weirdo art geek, dweeb, and sporto but any time you want to hang out with us, Heather…”

Heather smiled and hugged Sammy. “Thanks but I have a bestie. Her dad talked to me after that thing with Principal DeLuise. Uncle Jack must have gotten through to him because he said he was sorry he blamed me and I was welcome at their house again any time I liked.”

“Oh my god, that’s awesome Heather!” Sammy said and hugged her back enthusiastically.

“But… you know… I kind of have a thing for James and he’s busy on Saturday nights now so if you have room for a couple more… we might drop buy for your nerd stuff sometimes.”

Sammy grinned. “Brian got to him, didn’t he?”

Heather giggled. “Why are guys so into that stuff? Wormholes.” She made a rude noise with her lips. “As if.”

Sammy giggled helplessly. Oh Heather if you only knew. That just made Sammy laugh harder.

“What?”

“Nothing… You’re right. What a bunch of silly nonsense. Traveling from world to world through a metal ring like it’s nothing. That’s crazy.”

“So… Amy and I had this idea.” Heather hedged after Sammy finally stopped laughing so hard.

“Yah?”

“Well I thought about what Principal DeLuise said and I think I want to start an anti bullying club. How to recognize it and how to defuse it and stuff. Brian is really good at that. Do you think you could talk him into joining?”

“Probably not.” Sammy admitted.

Heather’s face fell.

“But I know who can.” Sammy said with a grin, thinking of a pair of warm brown eyes that saw right into her soul.

* * *

At the end of the year Karen still hadn’t been accepted into a college or university because of her behavior. No one knew for sure but they were fairly certain her dad had finally paid a school to look the other way… and it had not been the big state university experience she’d had her heart set on either. She would not be starting Senior year in cheer or able to brag about her university expectations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is sandwiched between two others. I'm working on the one that proceeds it currently which explains why Jack mentions McRaven and why he looks so tired.


End file.
